The Blessings of Reminders

These past two or three weeks have brought us several reminders that we are following God’s leading and are in the center of God’s will. Here’s two or three examples.

On Sunday we received a special gift of $300 from a church that loves us and believes in what we are doing. This was a benevolent gift. It happens that our small but growing financial support was running a little short this month and we had bills that needed to get paid. We were humbled again to know that God answers prayer by moving the hearts of his people to give to needs that he reveals at just the right time.

Today I am grading papers from a Church Planting Bootcamp class that was held last April. God blessed us first by my being asked to serve as the Instructor of Record for this class of seminary students. Second, I was unexpectedly asked to help teach a couple of sessions in addition to coaching the 20 students. Third, I am being blessed by reading the papers, one of which is a launch plan on how each student will uniquely begin a church plant among a people and at a place the student might start a new church. I am awed by such potential for God’s kingdom expansion represented in each project. Wow!

Also today I received an e-mail from a denominational leader in Canada who wants to discuss how I might be best used to help coach and train his group as they seek to plant more churches to reach new people and people groups.

A few days ago I opened a Twitter account and have begun to use it to encourage church planters, pastors and church leaders through a powerful social network tool that many new generation church planters are using for the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom. I was reminded again that through such tools as Twitter and Facebook, blogs and web sites, your kingdom ministry can truly be world-wide and cross-cultural.

Thank you, Lord.

EFCA Conference Highlights

The Evangelical Free Church Conference was held in Columbus, Ohio on June 14-17th. Here are some quotes and highlights from the workshops, meetings and plenary sessions:

“Look and pray for opportunities to be salt and light in your community.” – workshop on building bridges of outreach in your community

“As a pastor, you should know your community better than anyone else.” – Rick Warren as quoted in The Church of Irresistible Influence.

“God has made us fully adequate to serve him.” – Tim Addington

“The Apostle Paul was not a pessimist because he understood the supremacy of Christ.” – John Ortberg

“There is a God and it is not me.” – John Ortberg

“Transformation takes every bit as much grace as does salvation.” – John Ortberg

“Grace is opposed to earning but not to working.” – John Ortberg

“Spiritual growth is hand-crafted, not mass-produced – God alone knows what each person needs.” – John Ortberg

“We have to learn to gage spiritual growth in a way that does not cause the Pharisee (in us) to win.” – John Ortberg

“The world is not likely to hear the gospel of transformation told by someone whose life is not being transformed.” – John Ortberg

“The greatest need in a changing world is courage.” – Tom Nelson

“Courage comes from a careful attention to God’s Word.” – Tom Nelson

“Will you live safe or will you live brave?” – Tom Nelson

“It’s not a day to play little games.” – Tom Nelson

“Our power is directly proportional to His presence.” – Samuel Rodriquez

“God anoints what He appoints.” – Samuel Rodriquez

Multiplying Church Planters

We call it a Bootcamp because it is intensive and it requires much from the participants. Such was the case at the second Church Planting Bootcamp that I was able to help teach and lead in the last three months.

This Bootcamp was held on the Biola University Campus in Los Angeles this week and was again sponsored by the Evangelical Free Church of America. I was there as a coach and one of five instructors with 21 students participating. This event was very multicultural and inter-generational. Like the Church Planting Bootcamp in Canada in April, I came away very impressed with the multicultural potential of church planting. God is up to something in the great mission field known as the Pacific Northwest.


The new theme that has emerged over the last few years is the church in mission in North America and the church as missionary in its context. Instead of the members of the church sending missionaries to foreign lands, the church members here are now seen as missionaries and the church is seen as a mission outpost in an unbelieving world. The students at the Church Planting Bootcamp are trained to be missionary leaders with a vision and strategy for reaching people who are unchurched and unsaved.

Students at the Bootcamp learn that North America is now known as the only place in the world where the Christian church is not growing and the population is now equal to the third largest mission field in the world! Church Planting Bootcamps are filled with eager learners who are answers to your prayers. Will you join with me in daily prayer that the Lord of the harvest will send forth workers into his harvest field to make disciples of Jesus who plant and multiply more churches (Matthew 9:36-38; 28:18-20)?

A Tribute to Vinny Carlson

Every pastor needs a Vinny in his life and ministry.

I will greatly miss Vinny Carlson. How Marty and I will miss being there in Holdrege to remember his life and celebrate his homegoing with his family and all who will gather at Holcomb, his beloved church. I will miss the stories told by his family and friends as he is remembered, because I also remember his stories. We will miss being there for the laughter and the tears, the joy in the Lord that can only come at times like this to all those who personally know and love the Lord Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

We will miss yet another reminder that for believers in Christ Jesus, a homegoing into Glory precedes a homecoming of the glorious One together with Vinny and Harriet and all believers who have “departed” for a short while. Vinny loved to think about that glorious day in my many conversations with him.

I will never forget the day that Vinny came to me and said, “I think it’s about time for me to be baptized.” Being a church leader at the time, it took courage for him to make that public stand for Jesus, but he was a humble and courageous man of God. When God convicted him, he had to obey. However, Vinny wanted me to make sure I didn’t drown him in the baptismal tank so he threatened to wear his ski jacket for the ceremony. From what we could tell from our visit to Holdrege last fall for Holcomb’s 110th Anniversary, Vinny entered heaven with his humor intact. On that visit last summer at Christian Homes, we had to almost run to keep up with Vinny and his walker as he took us to see Grant Bergman. Vinny brought a smile wherever he went, but especially at the Christian Homes where he will definitely be missed by residents and staff alike. And you know what? I believe Vinny was the kind of man who put a smile on God’s face just like he put a smile on the faces of all he knew.

Every pastor needs a Vinny in his life because he adopted the pastor into his family. We always knew the place to be on Christmas Eve was at Vinny and Harriet’s house where we were family to them. Our extended family lived far away from Holcomb, but Vinny and Harriet became parents to us and grandparents to our three daughters. We were just part of the family – a family where everyone knew we were loved, accepted and appreciated.

When I remember Vinny, I recall the humble man of God who tolerated my attempts at golf, invited my family to his lake house for rest and fun, showed me by example how to minister to the elderly, taught me how to lead a church board with grace and truth, volunteer because God’s work needed to get done, show up for church even when I didn’t want to because he loved his Holcomb Church family – every single one of us, and protected his pastor from undue criticism. And Marty will always be grateful for the priceless gift of two tickets to go to Memorial Stadium and watch his beloved Cornhuskers play her beloved University of Maine in 2005. The Big Red won 25-7 and I still had a very happy wife!

We will miss Vinny because we always knew that he was praying for us each day. And oh how pastors need prayer and need to know that we are being prayed for. Every pastor needs a Vinny in his life and we were blessed beyond measure to have God’s original.

Vinny loved his God, loved his family, loved his church family, loved his pastor, loved his Christian Homes and his community. He loved life and is now enjoying eternal life with his Jesus, and we will miss him until we see him again in Glory. Well done, good and faithful servant of the Lord. Now, who will follow in Vinny’s footsteps?

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” (1 Thes. 4:16-18)

The Joy of Receiving

You’ve heard of the joy of giving? How about the joy of receiving?

A few days ago, we received a Ministry Support Team response card from some dear friends. They are special friends that one encounters over the years in a ministry like ours, coaching and training church planters. The card indicated that this man, a new church pastor, and his church would pray regularly for us and also support us by sending $100 a month to help support us in our ministry.

What a blessing it is to have friends like him who support us and the Lord’s work through us. And, what a joy it is to know that God used us in the past to encourage them in getting started as a new church. We thank God for these and others of our supporters and know that God will bless them in the joy of giving just as he does to us through the joy of receiving.

The Lord put it this way in his Word: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)

Here’s an update on our work of building a Ministry Support Team made up of people who pray for us and give for our support.

As of the end of May, we know of 18 people or families and one church who have been led of God to support our ministry through their prayers and giving. Through monthly, annual and one-time special gifts, last month we received over $1700 in salary. This is especially helpful since Marty does not yet have a job. The difficulty for us is that we have had to rely on sending requests letters and prayer letters since all but one or two that we know live far away from where we live. Please pray with us that God will introduce us to those who live near enough for me to make personal contact.

If you have not responded to my invitation letters yet, please let me know by sending the response card to the address with your gift or pledge or e-mailing us at charlieworley@gmail.com.

How have you been blessed by God because you prayed and gave of your resources?

Helping a Church Transition

This Sunday I will be speaking at a church whose leaders have asked me to help them make a transition from a pastor who is retiring after 10 years at the church to their next pastor. So, how will I help them?

First, this church needs to understand how to grieve the loss of a beloved and faithful long-term pastor. People in the church will respond in different ways, but there will be a sense of loss. Along with this emotion may come several possible reactions including a sense of loss of hope, feelings of abandonment, an unhealthy focus on the past, denial, depression, anxiety and even anger. In the end, there will be acceptance and a desire to move on and look to the future with full appreciation for what the former pastor added to their life and contributed to their growth. The keys to this are listening with compassion and understanding, and praying with and for hurting members. There may be opportunity to teach on transition involving a pastor and building hope for the future.

Second, both positive and negative issues that may exist in the church after the former pastor has left need to be dealt with. Sometimes there may be unresolved conflict between members or between members and the former pastor or previous pastors. The working relationship between the pastor and the church leadership often needs to be strengthened if possible and improving communication is a must. The leadership needs help in identifying top issues that need some work and then in working with them to address the issues.

Third, churches in transition often need help in evaluating church structures and ministries. But evaluation is not the end of the work. In times of transition, there is great opportunity to help the church leadership make changes, streamline and simplify. Both paid and volunteered staff can also be evaluated and recommendations for future staffing made. The church leadership needs help in saying no, yes and not yet to everything. Sacred cows can be fed and watered, or if necessary barbequed.

Fourth, the church leadership can often us some help and leadership in evaluating and improving the health of the church and its ministries. Leadership or coaching a church health team to accomplish this is often very helpful.

Fifth, the right time for the church to initiate a search for a new pastor needs to be discerned. Once that happens, the search committee or team can benefit much from coaching and consulting as it walks through a process which may take several months to complete.

My job is to help this church transition and prepare for its next senior pastor and then pass the baton of pastoral leadership to the new pastor so that there is unity, joy and excitement over the future in accomplishing God’s unique mission and vision for the church and its community.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1a) Please pray for Marty and me as I add this ministry to my growing labors of coaching, equipping and training in God’s Kingdom.

Learning (about God) from Church Planters

Today the District Superintendent of the Lower Pacific District in the EFC Canada and I held back-to-back meetings with two men. One is a church planter in Vancouver, BC whose new church is one year old, and the other who is a potential church planter I met at the recent Church Planting Bootcamp class at Trinity Western Seminary. I have introduced one of them, Sammy, to you before. The other’s name is Sam. Here’s what I learned today about God from them.

God honors faith. It’s possible to be resource rich, yet faith poor. Far better to be like these men and their families who being rich in faith rely on God rather than human resources including their own. A bold and realistic faith trumps money, facilities, equipment, experience, education, human knowledge, skills, etc. “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.” (Jer. 9:23-24)

When God puts a dream or vision in your heart, go for it. God lives within his servants and he gives to them his vision and dreams for ministry. These two church planters and others like them want more than anything to do what they believe God is calling them to do, each in a unique way and with different people. Let’s call it obedience to the Great Commission so that all nations and people groups on earth will be reached with the Gospel of the Kingdom. (Matt. 28:18-20)

Lost people matter to God, and therefore lost people matter. The church planters I know and coach have a compelling desire to .Like the Son of Man, they believe that they have come “to seek and save the lost.” (Lk. 19:10) God is in the business of seeking after and saving the lost, and so should we. And so should I.

God does not work alone. He uses people in his work and he works in community, first within the community of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and then within the community of the church. The church planters I met with today desire to work with others in association with other church planters and other churches. The church planters I know and coach want to work together in Kingdom ministry, encourage one another and partner in God’s work with other pastors and churches. "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23)

So what are you learning about God from church planters?